


Ocean Blue

by WinglessCrows



Series: Through the Eyes of a Cook [30]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Separations, Stranded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-27 07:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15019985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinglessCrows/pseuds/WinglessCrows
Summary: During a storm, the crew gets separated.





	Ocean Blue

Sanji could never be a devil fruit user. Not having the ability to swim and be in the ocean without feeling weak and powerless was something Sanji could never want. There was freedom in the ocean. On land there was the ground upon which you stood and you could only move in as many directions as the surface took you, but the ocean was different. You could move however you liked and in any direction imaginable. There were no restrictions to which way you should face and if you would rather have you feet closer to the surface than your head then so be it. From the ground above the ocean was raging and wild, but underneath it was calm and peaceful. There was nothing like the ocean. It was blue and beautiful as far as the eye could see and even further than that. Sanji was thankful that he was a pirate. There was no way he could live on land for a long time. If Sanji had his way he would come back as a fishman in his next life. The only restriction he had was that staying underwater for too long would eventually kill him. A fishman had no restrictions in water, and  _oh_  how Sanji envied that.

The ocean was unpredictable, and even more so on the Grand Line. The number of times Nami had yelled that a cyclone or a tsunami was approaching was quite scary and Sanji knew how lucky they were to have her. Sanji loved the ocean, but the things you love often tend to be the death of you. Sanji had learned that the hard way when a storm had left him stranded on a rocky island for eighty days. And today was another one of those days where the ocean just wanted to claim a few lives.

The storm had been sudden and though Nami had been able to get them out of the storm's centre, they were still far from safe. Everyone was soaked to the bone, but no one was slacking. Some people were either moving loose things inside or securing them to deck, while others were furling the sails making the Sunny ready for a Coup de Burst, which would hopefully save them. It just so happened that they never got to use it. From the top of the mast Sanji heard Nami's terrified scream and he immediately looked at whatever had her so frightened. He dropped his cigarette when he saw what was headed for them. Sanji had only seen one wave bigger than the one coming towards them and that was the Aqua Laguna, which should say quite a lot about this wave. Every member of the crew were instantly aware that there was no escaping this and moved as fast as they could to ensure everyone's safety. Sanji jumped down from the mast, ignoring the unfurling sail, and grabbed onto Nami and Brook. He was about to turn around to see if the other Devil Fruit users had safely gotten to a crew mate who weren't completely useless in water, but before he made it, the wave crashed down on the ship.

Sanji took a deep breath before he was completely engulfed in water and thought of nothing but holding onto Nami and Brook. While Brook's grip was loosening, Nami's was getting tighter and that allowed Sanji to focus more on keeping the Devil Fruit user close by. The three of them let the waves move them around and gasped for air every time they found themselves at the surface. The ordeal was tough, tiring and dragged on for much longer than Sanji liked. Each minute, each second they were at the ocean's mercy, they drifted further and further away from the ship, and that was even more dangerous than being caught in an intense storm.

* * *

Sanji could finally relax and collapsed in the low waters. The waves had sent them to a small reef which was barely covered by water. They had been caught in the storm for almost an hour and while Sanji wasn't actually the one looking for the others, Nami assured him that there was no one to be seen, not even the Sunny. Sanji heard Brook stirring beside him and was glad the skeleton had survived the chaotic turn of events, it had been hard trying to figure out how much Brook suffered when he didn't actually have a face. Sanji forced himself to sit up instead of just lying in the water and thought of how to best deal with the situation, but Nami came with an answer before him.

"If we just wait here, they'll come to us."

"Are you sure, Nami-san?" Brook asked and stood up beside her leaving Sanji sitting alone in the water.

"If no one is on the Sunny it will naturally drift here because of the winds, and if either Usopp, Franky or Robin are on the ship, they'll know that the waves took us in this direction. Do any of you how the others spilt?"

Sanji shook his head, but apparently Brook had noticed before they had been swept away.

"Usopp-san was with Chopper-san and I saw Franky-san run to Robin-san, which leaves..."

"Luffy and Zoro..." Nami face palmed, "The two idiots with the worst senses of direction possible."

Sanji chuckled quietly. Of course the two of them were together. Zoro's base instincts were to always protect Luffy, even if their captain rarely needed saving. In fact, the ocean was probably the only thing which Luffy actually had to be saved from because it made him absolutely useless.

"Relax, Nami-san," Sanji smiled, "They may be stupid, but they have the luck of idiots to go with it, so they'll come through."

Nami sighed: "I suppose..."

The three of them waited for a few hours. They chatted about nothing in particular to make time pass, and just hoped that someone would find them before the sun went down. About an hour before sunset, they spotted the Sunny. At first Sanji suggested that they swim to it, while carrying Brook of course, but a light from the Sunny let them know that people were coming for them, so they waited until the Sunny got as close to the reef as it could and Usopp came sailing in the Mini-Merry to pick them up.

The entire crew, except for Luffy and Zoro, had now made it the ship. Franky's hair suggested that he'd been in water until very recently, while both Usopp and Chopper were almost completely dry. Chopper told them that Robin was in the shower and Nami left to join her, while Sanji and Brook just quickly changed out of their damp clothes. Sanji could feel a cold coming, but he ignored it for now. They still had two people to find.

Impatience and fear slowly arose when the sun set and the light of the moon was blocked by a thick layer of dark clouds, which threatened with heavy rain. What really made the crew panic was when a marine ship slowly made its way towards them. Thankfully it wasn't a battleship, but they did not have time to deal with marines now, no matter how many or few of them there were. Unfortunately there was no time to escape, as the ship closed the distance between them and the strawhats got ready to raise all hell, when a familiar voice coming from the ship called for them.

"Oi~ Guys~ Are you there?!" Luffy's voice was loud and clear, and they all relaxed. It turned out that Zoro and Luffy had bumped into the ship shortly after being thrown of the Sunny, and with nowhere to go, they had seized the ship. According to Nami's wishes they took all the treasure, and according to Sanji's wishes they didn't take any of the food. He lived by Zeff's teachings after all. Even though it had been night for a couple of hours, they decided that it was safer to sail away from the marine ship, and took their chances in blind navigation.

No one got any sleep that night, but even the darkest of nights on the most terrifying of seas, the strawhats had fun. They were all gathered on deck with blankets, lights and drinks, sharing stories from whenever they had been separated on an adventure, stories from their past and stories they had heard from others. When they ran out of stories, they gathered up all their treasure and with more than enough money left after having bought the necessities on the next island, people were enthusiastically discussing what to buy. Everyone wanted different things, but with all that they had it would be more than easy to fulfil every single wish. The only thing they decided not to get was the bronze statue Luffy wanted, and had always wanted for that matter, because where would they even store that?

As the conversations went on the night slowly brightened, the stars disappeared one after one, and Sanji looked at the sun rising over the now still waters. The sea, which had earlier been black, scary and dangerous, was now blue, beautiful and luring. The events from yesterday were almost forgotten, but no matter what happened, Sanji would always love the ocean.


End file.
